It may sound surprising, but training is the easy part of the fitness equation. Not that all that effort and sweat isn’t challenging. But at most, that takes an hour of your day, maybe a little more. Once that’s done, you have 22 to 23 hours left in your day to manage, including –if you’re doing it correctly –five to seven meals.

The results you see can be affected in the way you prepare those meals. You need to accomplish three key goals. The first one is to provide your body with the nutrition it needs to run optimally. Second is to give your muscles the building blocks they need to recover. And third is to refuel yourself enough to have the energy to train hard and thrive throughout your day, but not so much as to stock your body’s fat stores.

It’s a tall order, to be sure, but a relatively easy one if you have solid information in hand. Here are a few “rules” to follow as you create your own fat-burning diet:

Get Your Protein

Cycle Your Carb Intake

Watch the Fat

Crack Down on Cravings

Get Your Protein

You want to aim for a least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. At meals, you’ll look to wholefood sources like meat, milk, eggs and soy. If you are vegan you’ll look to beans, soy, nuts, and quinoa. For snacks and around workouts, you can lean on wholesome protein powders, bars, and yogurt smoothies.

Cycle Your Carb Intake

Whole grains, fruits and vegetables certainly have their place in a well-rounded diet, but that place is the key: You’ll want to cycle your carb intake by stacking carbs earlier in the day so that they’re burned off before bedtime. For breakfast and lunch, you want to go higher carb. For later meals, you want to go low carb and higher protein. That’s because in the morning, you’re restocking you energy stores and giving your body what it needs to make it through the day. Carbs later in the day, however, may end up getting stored as fat when you sleep –i.e., stay inactive –for six to nine hours. Plan your meals so that you choose whole grains over non-whole options (except after workouts), eat fruit only in the a.m., eat fibrous vegetables freely, and limit, but don’t omit your starch-oriented veggies like white potatoes and corn.

Watch the Fat

Limit your fat intake to 0.5 gram per pound of bodyweight per day. Get the majority of your fats from fish like salmon and tuna, as well as avocadoes, walnuts, almonds, olive oil and other excellent sources of healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Crack Down on Cravings

You’re well on your way to your dream body, exercising regularly, watching what you eat, and then it hits you: the craving!

Something sugary or carb-y or crunchy –whatever it is, you can’t get it out of your mind. You know giving in will momentarily halt your progress, but the urge to eat it is so strong, you almost don’t care. You try to justify it to yourself. You struggle. You complain. You cave.

Although it’s quite common for women to attribute cravings to various stages of menstrual cycles, experts disagree over the role estrogen and other hormones play. However, one thing is clear: Food cravings can have emotional and physiological triggers.

Insulin is the most profound hormone that has an impact on cravings. And its release can be triggered via stress. Stress produces cortisol, and in an effort to counteract it, the body will produce insulin, which drops blood sugar. What’s the result? Your body demands that you stabilize your blood sugar immediately via eating a high-carbohydrate food.

The best defense against food cravings, experts agree that is, a good offense: Keep your blood sugar stable via eating small meals of whole, natural foods high in protein, healthy fats and fiber every few hours. Also, supplement with a good multivitamin and essential fatty acids, such as the omega-3s found in fish-oil capsules, because the body can’t produce those on its own.

The Premise

What you eat and how often you eat may help you to see results faster. Eating regularly throughout the day, revs up the metabolism which encourages you to burn more fat calories. You may even burn several calories when resting.

If you do not eat regularly, your body may feel that it is in a starvation mode, and start storing the food you eat as fat. So in a sense your body will be in preservation mode, making it that much harder to burn calories.

Do not skip your breakfast, even if you don’t like to eat it. Some of the people I have talked to who are overweight say that they hate breakfast, and do not eat in those hours. One woman told me recently she only drinks soda for breakfast. A well-balanced breakfast is an important meal of the day as it helps to kick-off your metabolism. Combine that with eating throughout the day along with exercise and the weight should just fall off. There may be days you don’t exercise, and you may still burn calories due to how often you eat small well-balanced meals throughout the day.

Only eating breakfast and a large dinner with nothing –to –very little in between; is not great either. This is just the other end of the spectrum of someone who doesn’t eat breakfast. Your body will still behave in the same, if not worse manner as it would if you had skipped the breakfast. Your body will at some point feel deprived, and start storing food as fat.

If you seem overwhelmed as to how to start, try cutting back a little of your potion sizes of what you already eat throughout the day; in that way you won’t feel deprived. Believe it or not…that actually works. You won’t see magnificent results, but you may notice little changes. Try to inculcate more of the wholesome well-balanced meals. For example, if you don’t like to eat during the breakfast hours, try something like yogurt instead of eggs at first; until your body gets used to the idea. Eventually you should start eating more of the healthier foods and less of the other; and it will jump-start the fat-burning process.

What’s the effect of regular exercise on sex? For most people, it acts as a mild aphrodisiac. A variety of studies have shown that men and women who keep themselves trim and toned tend to have lustier sex lives, and remain sexually active later in life, compared with people who are relatively inactive. There is an outer limit to this cheerful news, however: Driven, compulsive exercisers actually have lower sex drives than people who understand the meaning of moderation.

Women’s Sexual Second Wind

Aerobics

The libidinous effects of exercise have been demonstrated in both men and women. Linda DeVillers, Ph.D., an adjunct professor of psychology at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, was intrigued when she noticed that after a day of swimming or skiing, she felt sexually stirred up. She wondered if other women might experience a similar “sexual second wind” after exercise and polled 8,000 female readers of a fitness magazine to find out. A quarter of these women reported that they, too, felt sexually aroused immediately after working out; only 3 percent said their libidos did not seem up to par.

The long-term effects of exercise were even more pronounced. Almost a third of the women reported they had sex more often after beginning their exercise program, 40 percent said they’d noticed an increase in their ability to be aroused, and 89 percent said exercise had given their sexual self-confidence a boost.

Sexual Aerobics for Men

Aerobic Exercise

Another study showed similar effects in a group of 78 sedentary middle-aged men. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, rounded up these healthy but inactive men, whose mean age was 48, and put them on a vigorous, nine-month-long exercise program. Although they worked into it gradually, by the sixth month the men were doing sustained aerobic exercise (pushing their hearts up to 75-80 percent of their maximum aerobic capacity) for a full hour at least three times a week. A similar group of 17 middle-aged, sedentary men was on a program of moderate walking for an hour about four times a week. Both groups kept detailed diaries about all sorts of things, including their sex lives, during the first and last months of the program.

After nine months, predictably enough, the men on the no-nonsense exercise program had increased their overall fitness levels by 30 percent. Their frequency of intercourse increased via 30 percent (to three times a week), the frequency of orgasms increased via 26 percent, the frequency of masturbation increased via 50 percent (to roughly once every ten days). At the same time, in both groups, their sexual dissatisfaction or dysfunction (such as trouble achieving or maintaining and erection) noticeably decreased.

Walkers increased their fitness levels via only 3 percent during the study, compared with a 30 percent increase among the more strenuous exercisers. (Obviously, the walkers weren’t breaking any speed records.) Even so, walkers reduced their anxiety as much as the exercisers, and bumped up their levels of good cholesterol, reported more sexual fantasies and more desire for intercourse than before the study started. Walking may not qualify as Olympic-level training, but don’t overlook its mild-mannered benefits.

Brisk Walking

Exercise, Sex and Aging

Weight Training

Studies of a different sort have shown that people who keep themselves in fighting trim also tend to stay sexually active far later in life than walkers. In one small-scale study, a behavioral scientist at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, looked at the sex lives of 160 Masters Swimmers, one group in their 40’s and another in their 60’s. These people were not just moderately fit, they were super fit, training an average of an hour a day, four or five days a week –a few of them even more.

“The men and women in our study reported sex lives more like those of people in their 20’s and 30’s than those of their contemporaries,” reported Phillip Whitten, Ph.D., and his research associate Elizabeth J. Whiteside. “Not only that, the people in their 60’s reported sex lives comparable to those in their 40’s,” making love an average of about seven times a month.

Why Fit Equals Sexy

Group Exercise

What, precisely, is the connection between staying fit and staying sexy? Well, there are a few obvious reasons, like enhanced self-esteem. Hey, when you look good….you feel good! And also, you partner feels good about you. Eighty percent of the Masters Swimmers rated themselves as attractive or very attractive, but they were just being humble –their spouses or lovers rated them as even more attractive than what they rated themselves. But there is a physiological explanation as well. Cardiovascular fitness seems to have a direct effect on men’s sexual performance, because attaining and maintaining a serviceable erection requires good circulation. One of the body’s responses to regular exercise is increased blood volume throughout the entire body, including the genitals.

Exercise also has an effect on circulating levels of testosterone –the hormonal trigger of sex in both men and women. Although the physiology is complex and the studies don’t all agree, quite a few have shown that testosterone levels rise after short-term, moderately vigorous exercise. One study showed significantly elevated serum testosterone levels after men ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes –although in women, these levels rose only after 120 minutes of exertion. But remember, some women already have higher levels of testosterone which would mean that for these women it would not take much exertion for their levels to be raised.

The Outer Limit

Bodybuilders

Like almost everything else, exercise is best if it’s seasoned with reason. If a little jogging is great for your love life, a whole lot of jogging is not necessarily better. It’s well known, for instance, that female athletes who train too ferociously or get too lean develop athletic amenorrhea –in effect, their bodies turn off the menstrual cycle. Their bodies are saying, in essence, “I’m under horrific stress –now is a lousy time to get pregnant!”

Quite a few studies have also shown that continuous, exhausting exercise drives down testosterone levels and takes the steam out of the libido. Rather dramatic declines in testosterone have been shown in male ultra-marathon runners after a 100-mile race, for instance. And one study of fanatical, driven male athletes, who tended to be as obsessed with leanness as anorexics and took up running with an almost religious zeal, found that their marriages were also “often impersonal and asexual.”

So, how much exercise does it take to drive down the testosterone levels –what, in effect, is the outer limit? Well, fortunately, it’s way out there. A researcher at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ariel Barkan, M.D., has estimated that you would have to run 200 miles a week to seriously disrupt your hormones. By contrast, “there appears to be something magical about running 30 miles per week,” says Jay Schinfeld, M.D., a triathlete who is also chief of endocrinology at the Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. But it is still my humble opinion, despite sport bras, that women who runs too much may end up flat chested in the long run. (The breast consists of mostly fat) You don’t have to exercise thathard to experience the positive effects of exercise on sexuality, but once you start going above it, you increase your risk of injury.

I can’t take it anymore!!!! I am ready to pack my bags. Don’t get too hot. Heat exhaustion is serious, so take it easy this summer. Our weather has been so crazy lately that it could go either way, cool or extremely hot. But I have a feeling this summer could be sweltering. Granted we have about a month and a half before summer, but we should be aware of the symptoms of heat exhaustion beforehand. So what the symptoms?

Muscle cramps or pain

Sweating profusely

Nausea

Weakness

Thirst

Headache

Elevated temperature of 101 and above

So what about heat stroke? How is that different from heat exhaustion, and how will you know if you have that?

Hallucinations

Confusions

High temp of 104 >

High blood pressure at first which falls later

Flushed hot skin

Hyperventilating

You may also see colors blurring together, which could be a sign you are about to faint.

So when should you call a doctor?

If you cannot keep fluids(or anything) down

You have shortness of breath

Mental status deteriorates

Abdominal pain

Chest pain

Temp more than 104

Temp that is rising despite efforts to cool the individual

Coconut water was all the rage a few years ago, but it still contains the same benefits today. Coconut water is the juice found in young, green coconuts. On the beaches of Brazil and in other places, people often drink it through a straw stuck straight into the fruit. Unlike coconut milk, which is a high-fat emulsion of mature coconut meat, coconut water is, well, mostly water — about 95% water, in fact.

It also contains the electrolytes sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphate as well as small amounts of many essential amino acids

The balance of electrolytes in coconut water is nearly the same as that in the human blood — so close, in fact, that coconut water is the only natural non-blood substance that can be safely injected into the human bloodstream. Ancient peoples knew this, and sometimes used it as an emergency intravenous fluid.

Most of the time there’s no need to go to such lengths: just drink it, and you’ll be rewarded with 15 times as much potassium as a typical sports drink, along with potent antioxidants. And unlike sugary sports drinks or coconut milk, coconut water is low in calories and fat free.

It also contains the electrolytes sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphate as well as small amounts of many essential amino acids. It is popular among fitness junkies looking for a natural alternative to sports drinks without artificial colors or preservatives. However, coconut water is not for athletes engaging in intensive training. The reason is because in comparison to some sports drinks, it is low in carbohydrates and sodium, which are essential for recovery following hardcore training. You see after a hard workout, adults need 15 to 17 grams of protein, and coconut water contains approximately less than 2 grams per 8 ounces.

But however, coconut water contains up to 15 times as much potassium as the average sports drink. Like sodium, potassium is a key electrolyte that gets sweated out during exercise, but isn’t necessary in a sports drink due to the fact that the body losses more sodium than potassium. Still, it could not hurt to replenish.

Coconut water has the five electrolytes that are already in our bodies. Yeah. All of these electrolytes help in certain functions of our body. Since coconut water does not contain any preservatives, fats or cholesterol, it is a good drink for everybody regardless of your conditions. Did you know that high blood pressure is oftentimes caused via electrolyte imbalance? Studies have shown that drinking coconut water directly lowers blood pressure in 76% of people. Try to drink 8 oz of coconut water each day. And remember, there is no quick fix. It will also help if you change the way you eat in order to see significant improvement. It doesn’t have to be much all, just a little bit at a time.

Coconut water adds moisture to our skin. Many lotions and facial moisturizers have this in their formulas – and those are great – but they also only work on the outside. Drinking coconut water hydrates your skin from the inside. Aside from this, coconut water also helps remove excessive oil in the skin and in the scalp. Again, this is why so many conditioners and shampoos make use of coconut water.

Coconut Water and weight loss

Coconut water contains fiber, which slows the absorption of the sugars. This is critical, since other sugary drinks and even fruit juices do not contain fiber, and those fast-digesting sugars lead to fast fat-storage. Also, since there is simply less total sugar in coconut water than there are in the other drinks, if you were to substitute it for your daily sports drink, you will be taking in far less blood-spiking sugars.

Coconut water has a good effect on thyroid function. There are people that cannot burn fat because of thyroid issues; drinking coconut water can be good for them.

Coconut water can relieve hangovers and prevent them

You might find this use very weird. However, people say that coconut water is actually very effective in preventing or curing hangovers. When you drink too much, chances would be you’ll urinate frequently. As a result, you will get dehydrated and deplete your electrolyte stores in the process. There are two of the main causes of hangovers. Once you drink coconut water, it will rehydrate your body thanks to the water and replenish electrolytes more than all commercial sports drinks. It is great to alternate coconut water when drinking alcohol as well.

So in summary, here is what coconut water can do for you:

Coconut water cures or prevents kidney or bladder stones. Some people say that when you drink coconut water on a daily basis, the best results are achieved.

Coconut water has anti-viral, anti-fungal and antibacterial properties.

The pH of coconut water is isotonic with our blood. Because of this, coconut water can be used as a plasma substitute in extreme emergencies.

Coconut water contains lauric acid; a substance that can be found in baby’s milk. This is why it can also be used as a substitute to processed baby milk.

Infants are given coconut water to get rid of their intestinal worms. This is as effective as the anthelmintic medicines in the market. But since it is natural, it is actually much safer.

Cholera patients are also recommended to drink a glass or two of this natural drink; it may be helpful for them since coconut water contains albumen.

Coconut water is a great and natural way to prevent acid reflux.

It also aids in digestion.

One of the benefits of coconut water is it also improves blood circulation.

It also boosts your immune system.

Coconut water can be found at most health food markets. But personally, I like it fresh. So, I had some coconuts shipped to me here in North Carolina from Florida. Yeah..There were roughly 20 or so. The UPS driver was a little mad with me. He did the fireman’s carry to my door and said, “What’s in here??” And I said, “Oh…..They must be my Coconuts.” (No pun intended)

***Exercise Update***

I have temporarily put off both running and jogging, and sticking with brisk walking, aerobics (ex., Zumba), dancing, bike riding, etc. I feel that when you run/jog, you may gain booty but lose the boobies. So I started weight training mostly the mid to lower half of my body, and doing specific exercises for my upper body. I feel that all the sport bras in the world can’t stop the extra jiggle with the burning of fat (which is what the breast consist mostly of). I could eat a “lot” of fattening, unhealthy foods and then run….but then, that would defeat the purpose now wouldn’t it? As is, I already don’t eat anything that says reduced, low, or fat free. Weight training is still great for a woman’s upper body…..but it is ALL about the amount you lift and your technique. Also, weight training gives me more energy.

-It is starting to get hot here already. I guess I will need to head out a little earlier in the mornings for exercise.

On my Welcome page I briefly mentioned seeing a cardiologist, as an example of a specialist. I do have a heart condition. A heart condition is different from a heart problem. However, I do not have asthma, which was also mentioned there. I have had this condition growing up for as long as I can remember. I do literally burn calories without doing anything. I know…you hate me! I have a natural elevated heart rate when I am resting. Dancing or doing aerobics, even if it is vigorous in nature is okay. However, I have always had a problem running. I get out of breath very quickly. I have tried over the years to build up my endurance, but it is difficult. After I am done, I am completely wiped out and just want to sleep. Now as I previously mentioned, I can do hardcore dancing and aerobics and not have much of a problem. I think I have my theories on why that is. But I know that it is possible to be a runner, because there are athletes with this condition that competed in the Olympics and won metals. I can do it; I just have to work that much harder. The athletes that I know about all had operations though. Awww, unless I have surgery, I may never be the runner that I want to be! I just had a surgery and after what I’ve been through, don’t want to have another one any time soon. Without doing any exercises (example, while sleeping) my heart has raced at 280 beats per minute instantaneously. I will continue to try to run if it’s the-last-thing-I-do……

Today it was a little bit cloudy cold and windy. I thought it would be a good to run because I would not get to hot. Getting hot was never an issue while I was out. It started to rain….a very cold rain with a stiff wind. (I showered and washed my hair before I left the house. Sometimes, but not always, I do that before and after I exercise likened to jumping in the ocean or pool) It got to a point that my hands and ears where numb. There was nothing on radar in the immediate vicinity that indicated it would be raining. It was a surprise. Even now I’m having minor tremors. I guess I need to take that second shower now and rinse my head in hot water. I hope I haven’t set myself back. Anyway, I firmly believe that a person does not get sick from being cold. A person gets sick from viruses. So, I will be okay….I’m just happy to have my voice back! 🙂

As you may already know, October is the month of breast cancer awareness. I have an Aunt who is suffering from it. Her daughter, who is my first cousin, just died last night from Leukemia. My family is going through a very difficult time right now. We are going through the motions.

Cancer is very tricky, because one minute you think the person is getting better, and then the next they are in hospice. At one time it seemed my first cousin was starting to get better. The doctor said they couldn’t find it. Then she was in hospice. My Aunt who was the sister of the Aunt who has breast cancer, about died 17 years ago from pancreatic cancer. There was a moment that the doctor thought she was going to be okay, and the next she was in hospice.*

Cancer may strike people in different ways. It may strike due to genetics (which is why some children may have it), poor diet (ex., additives, chemicals, excessive fats) a lack of exercise, excessive amounts of stress, and anger. And then there are the few people who feel they did everything right when it comes to taking care of his or herself and still get it. But still, those people are the very few. Usually the people who strive to take care or his or herself, stays healthier longer. It is the premise that makes some feel like they don’t need to even try. Well, not trying could be actually sending cancer an invitation. Who wants to send cancer an invitation? People have so much (excruciatingpain) with cancer, that the medicines don’t provide relief, only death does. So, now is the time to start eating right if you don’t, and to start an exercising routine before cancer. You will feel so much better, and your body will thank you.

*My first cousin was only 11 months older than me. My grandfather died when my mother was 14 years old due to prostate cancer. I’ve loss an Uncle to lung cancer 2 years ago. He was the brother of my Aunt who has breast cancer. She has another brother, of course also my Uncle, has had throat cancer. He has beat it.

Although my grandmother (my mother side) died in 09, she did
not have cancer. Out of my father’s seven siblings, neither of them dealt with
cancer or his parents.

Even though we all have cancer cells, it is likely my mother’s father may have carried more of the cells. Today, many people have become more individualistic. It is important to know your family. Knowing your family may help extend your life.

My parents have been exercising and mostly eating right for
as long as I can remember. When you know what is in your family, you may be
more incline to make changes sooner, and stick to them relentlessly.